Archive for the 'Mark Holick' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

To say that the relationship between the Ducks and Syracuse Crunch has been a rocky one would be an understatement but it appears that they intend to keep them as their American Hockey League affiliate, at least for a second season.

"We'll be back," McNab said. "We've talked about it [with Syracuse]. The conversations we've had with Howard are between Howard and Anaheim. The simple answer is we have a contract for next season.''

The Crunch were eliminated from Calder Cup playoff competition long ago as they've struggled to a 32-39-7 record with three games left in the regular season. McNab did tell the Post-Standard that Mark Holick will return as coach.

The duo are an integral part of the Syracuse Crunch as the Ducks-Syracuse affiliation gets underway. Neither has coached in pro hockey before, but Murray was excited about their energy and drive.

“You look for prospects," Murray told the Standard. "Both these guys are prospects. They've worked their way up. That's how our business works. I think as an organization you have to have young people coming in to take the next step. I didn't want somebody who wasn't excited to be here."

It turns out that Murray knew Stapleton because they had roomed together as Chicago Blackhawks teammates in the 1980s.

"Anaheim is clearly one of the elite profile organizations," Crunch owner Howard Dolgon (pictured) said in March. "Everything I hear about them, these are the people we are looking for. These are the guys who know how to get it done."

Mark Holick was named coach Friday of the Ducks' new American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

It is a multi-year contract.

"He had three great seasons in the WHL, including earning Coach of the Year honors in 2009-10, and is certainly qualified to take the next step."

Holick, 41, coached the Western Hockey League's Kootenay Ice for the past three seasons, going 120-75-10-11 and making the playoffs each year. He went 43-24-3-2 this season and earned coach of the year.

For the moment, the particulars behind the apparent hiring of Mark Holick as the coach of the Ducks' new AHL affiliate in Syracuse aren't about to own up to it yet.

Sources first told The Daily News of Kamloops, B.C. that Holick, 41, will lead the Crunch in 2010-11 after spending the last three seasons as coach of the major junior Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League.

Holick led the Ice to a 43-24-5 record and a fourth-place finish in the WHL's 12-team Eastern Conference. The native of Penticton, B.C., succeeded Cory Clouston, who left to take over the AHL's Binghamton Senators and is now the coach in Ottawa.